I'm new to chromatic harmonica and this may be a dumb question but that's because I don't know enough about one to ask an intelligent question. Since getting my chromatic, about the only keys I can play in are C-major (slide button stays out) and C-sharp (slide button stays in). Anyway my question is when playing in 3rd position on a C chromatic, would I be in D-major or D-minor? If D-major I would have two sharps, C-sharp and F-sharp, right? I've heard that when playing blues on a chromatic,.the slide button is not even used. I'm confused, can someone help? Thanks in advance.
I haven't seen the video, I will when I have the chance.
But yeah, learning the blues scale and knowing the chords available. The draw chord will allways be a D minor chord D F (minor third) A (123 draw) thought it has a B on the 4 draw I believe and not sure if thats a 6th. Anyway third position on chromatic is commonly played using tongue blocked octaves and splits with flutters and tongue slaps for the percussive sounds. Most chicago players don't play chromatic with single notes or in other positions, which I believe is a loss. I'm learning to play the chrom and yeah its such a new world when you come from diatonic
Great to hear Danny ! I am currently on that chro journey. I just love listen to George Smith and playing those fat octaves. Have fun!
Last Edited by 6SN7 on Jan 13, 2016 10:38 AM
The default scale for D on a C chromatic, i.e. not using the slide button to alter it, is the Dorian scale, which is a type of minor scale. Sounds great with major-key blues even though it sounds minor.
D Major would require F# and C#, but you can get away without doing that. Of course you can use the slide to create any scale you want - and several two-note combinations that sound great. But most third-position blues chromatic was originally played without the slide. Slide use has crept in over the decades, and can be heard a lot in the playing of guys like Dennis Gruenling, who uses it mainly to provide chromatic passing notes between the notes of the basic blues scale . =========== Winslow
I should also add that position does not determine the scale.
For instance, third position on a C harmonica is D. But that D can be D major, D minor, or whatever. As long is it's D on a C harp, it's third position. The only thing that determines position is the relationship between the key of the song and the key of the harmonica. =========== Winslow
DannyRanch says "The draw chord will allways be a D minor chord."
Not necessarily.
Sure, if you just get four holes in your mouth, you'll hear D minor 6th chord (D-F-A-B, B being the 6 in the minor6).
But let's say you start playing splits (tongue on the harp to "split" the chord apart, with holes sounding on both the right and left corners of your mouth).
You can play D and A as one split (blocking out the intervening hole, which would sound F).
The other split would be F and B. But if you play that combination with the slide in, you get F# (which makes the chord major) and C (which adds the 7th. So now, by moving between the D-A split and the F#-C split, you outline a D7 chord. =========== Winslow
Thank you to all and especially to Winslow. That's a lot to chew on. I haven't even tried to play octaves yet. Since the chromatic is a different beast, I feel like I'm learning the harmonica all over again but I'm having fun on the journey. So,if I play a D scale without the slide, I would be playing in a D Dorian mode?
Last Edited by DanP on Jan 13, 2016 5:16 PM
Correct, you'd be playing the Dorian mode without the slide.
It took me a long time to get used to the wide 5-hole spread that's required for octaves on chromatic. At first it didn't seem practical but now it's second nature. That said, Little Walter seldom played octave on chromatic, and he pretty much invented the third-position chromatic blues style. He mostly used splits with four and sometimes three hole spreads. George Smith seems to have been the first to make octaves a central part of the style, and then his disciples spread that - William Clarke, Rod Piazza, Dennis Gruenling.
The chromatic is really a different instrument the same family, sort of like guitar and mandolin. =========== Winslow
